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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23896609">Yellow rose</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kangoo/pseuds/Kangoo'>Kangoo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>April Bouquet [27]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>La Légende du Roi Arthur - Savio &amp; Skread &amp; Zaho/Chouquet/Attia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fully Consensual Adultery, Historical Inaccuracy, Jealous Maleagant, M/M, Marriage of Convenience</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:48:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,603</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23896609</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kangoo/pseuds/Kangoo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's important to keep up pretenses, but Maleagant doesn't like to share</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arthur/Maleagant (La Légende du Roi Arthur), Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>April Bouquet [27]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685779</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Yellow rose</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>theme: jealousy</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A royal anniversary is the event of the year. Nobles from all over the land flock back to the court just to be seen. Unfortunately for Arthur that means he has to attend, since it’s his wedding they’re celebrating.</p><p>Doesn’t mean he has to like it.</p><p>He puts on a smile and hooks his arms with Guinevere's, politely thanking the people who come up to them with presents and well-wishes. Currently they’re caught in a conversation with a Duke — he is rhapsodizing about how lovely their union was, what charming couple they make, what an example of loyalty and devotion they are to the rest of them. All lies, of course. Arthur and Guinevere are hardly the loving couple he paints them as: everyone knows this was only a political alliance, helped along by the fondness the two held for each other once upon a time.</p><p>Nowadays it’s harder to keep up the pretense that they’re in love with each other.</p><p>Arthur catches Guinevere’s gaze lifting from the Duke’s face, drifting towards the back of the room. He follows suit and finds Lancelot, pale armor seeming to glow faintly in the candlelight. As if silently called by his lady’s attention, the knight looks up and smiles blindingly at her. She answers in kind.</p><p>The Duke must believe it’s directed at him because he flounders for a moment, a blush creeping up his cheeks. Arthur thanks him one last time for his kind words and glance meaningfully <em>away</em>. The Duke scampers. Guinevere pulls them towards the floor space that’s been cleared up for dancing before anyone else can approach them for another one-way discussion.</p><p>It does, incidentally, bring them closer to where Lancelot stands.</p><p>Next to him Gawain raises his cup in salute and discreetly elbows Lancelot into covering his besotted smile somewhat. Arthur responds with a nod, lips tugging upwards at his friends’ antics.</p><p>“How long until we can sneak out?” Guinevere whispers only for his ears.</p><p>He leads her into as graceful a spin as he can muster and ducks his head to hide a grimace. “Who knows. Hours, probably, until they are bored of seeing us and send us on our way to… properly celebrate.”</p><p>She makes a noise somewhere between disgust and annoyance. He can’t help but agree to the sentiment. He glances up, assessing the crowd still gathered in the room. Gowns glitter under the lights, gilded and colorful. Then among them he glimpses the sight of a figure clad in black. He’s keeping to the edges of the crowd but Arthur would recognize Maleagant anywhere, even in the low light, among what looks like the entire noble population of the country.</p><p>The music shifts then and he almost trips. Guinevere catches him and makes it look as if nothing happened, though she meaningfully rolls her eyes at him. The sheepish smile she gets in return placates her but he knows he will hear about this later. She does like to mock him for his puppy-like reaction to the prince of Gore’s presence.</p><p>Finally, the song fades out and they are free to stop dancing. A blessing for Guinevere, who risks her life at every moment with him as a partner. With all the attention on them it feels right to lean down and press a kiss at the edge of her lips, just close enough to make it seem genuine. She rests her hand against his face and gives him a secret little smile.</p><p>“He’s looking at you,” she says, eyes darting above his shoulder.</p><p>Ah. He’s going to hear about this later. No matter: it’s not like Maleagant isn’t aware of their charade, or what it takes to keep it believable.</p><p>“Why don’t you go see your knight, and I’ll do the boring part of our royal duty and go greet the heir of the neighboring kingdom?”</p><p>“Boring, right.”</p><p>Guinevere draws back from him and gives him a wink before turning in a whirlwind of bright fabric and disappearing into the crowd. Lancelot, seeing her alone, immediately drifts away from the other knights and meets her halfway.</p><p>When he turns around, Arthur wishes Maleagant would do the same. There’s an awful lot of people between the two of them and he could use the help crossing the distance. But the other man is seemingly deep in conversation with Leodegrance and either hasn’t noticed Arthur’s approach or doesn’t care.</p><p>It takes time, what with everyone wishing to stop him to wish him many more years of a happy marriage, before Arthur finally reaches the two men. Only then does Maleagant deign to look at him. Arthur warned him that they shouldn’t interact too much in public lest people notice something is amiss. Apparently, Maleagant took it as an encouragement to go back to the way he acted before they grew closer.</p><p>Namely: making Arthur’s life harder just for the fun of it.</p><p>He manages to make bowing look respectful to all who watches them warily except to Arthur, who clearly sees it as the sarcastic gesture it is. Maleagant only bends the knee when he wants to, not when decorum says he should, and usually in a more… intimate context.</p><p>“My liege,” he greets, looking at Arthur through long, dark lashes. The way his lips curl in a grin when Arthur swallows audibly reminds him of a cat playing with a mouse.</p><p>The rest of the short conversation is a blur of social graces and, on Maleagant’s part, thinly-veiled innuendos. Arthur leaves before his attention can be taken as a show of favor, though they would be right in assuming this. He can’t help but feel the weight of Maleagant’s eyes on the back of his neck as he goes, gently mocking.</p><p>That night, he’s waiting for Arthur in his room.</p><p>Fortunately Guinevere is already gone, spirited away by Lancelot as soon as they stepped into the relative secrecy of the castle’s dark corridors. The two never got along. A mix between past grievances and personal resentment he would need years of context to properly understand. Maleagant insists that it’s because Guinevere cheated on Arthur, even though he’s not protective or righteous enough to care, and Guinevere claims he’s scary and untrustworthy, which isn’t wrong but lacks nuance. Arthur much prefers staying out of it and keeping their interactions away from the public eye at a bare minimum.</p><p>When Arthur opens the doors to his personal quarters he’s sitting in front of the fireplace, drinking some of his expensive wine and staring into the flames. His black armor is scattered around the room, dropped where he shed it, leaving him looking oddly vulnerable in his underclothes. Arthur rarely gets to see him like this. Usually they’re either in full armor or naked and there is little time for the in-between.</p><p>He looks up at the sound of the door gently closing. He finishes his wine, puts the glass down and rises smoothly. He doesn’t so much walk as <em>prowl</em> towards Arthur, pushing him against the door until he’s pinned.</p><p>“Hi,” Arthur squeaks.</p><p>Maleagant’s lips brush against his neck, up to his jaw, trailing a line of warmth all the way to his ear. His hot breath washes over his skin. “Hello, Arthur,” he says. His voice, low and dark, sends a shiver down Arthur’s spine. “Leaving your lawfully wedded wife so early in the night? What will the court think, I wonder.”</p><p>He doesn’t actually get the opportunity to respond to the rhetorical question. Maleagant sinks his teeth into the sensible skin just behind his jaw. Arthur’s gasp morphs into a breathless little moan as he sucks a bruise into his neck, marking him for all to see.</p><p>“I don’t think I have a collar high enough to cover that,” he complains halfheartedly.</p><p>“Then don’t. Let them see you’re mine, even as they believe you’re <em>hers</em>.” Maleagant presses a light kiss against the new bruise, then another on Arthur’s cheekbone, a third just under his eyes. He stops a hair’s breadth from his mouth.</p><p>Arthur breaches the gap himself, surging to capture Maleagant’s lips with his even as he grips the back of his neck to pull him impossibly closer. Maleagant goes easily, chuckling into the kiss. This time, when he bites to Arthur’s lip it’s gentle. Not enough to truly hurt, but enough to distract him from the hand trailing down his body for a second. He’s reminded of it when it dips under his pants, fingers digging into the soft flesh of his hips.</p><p>He breaks the kiss with a sigh and lets his arms hang around Maleagant’s shoulders for a moment as he catches his breath. Eventually he says, “Bed?”</p><p>The other man thinks about it, eyes hungrily roaming Arthur’s face as if by burning every detail of it in his memory he would make it his more than Guinevere’s. As if it weren’t already the case.</p><p>He nods and the desire in his eyes turns into deviousness. Before Arthur can notice the change he’s hoisted him up in his arms in a bridal carry. His strong arms take the weight of the king easily and it doesn’t take him much effort to carry Arthur to the bed and drop him on top of the soft sheets. He follows him down, settling on top of Arthur.</p><p>“The things I want to do to you,” he whispers, sounding almost amazed by whatever he’s seeing in Arthur at the moment.</p><p>He fights down a blush and lets his eyes fall half-closed, watches Maleagant through his lashes. “We have all night,” he says. “Why don’t you show me?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>come haunt me on <a href="https://twitter.com/2Fast2Kangoo">twitter</a> or <a href="https://youngster-monster.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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